Improvement in engines for city railroads



A. IRWIN, ENGINE FOR CITY RAILROADS.

No. 36,352. Patented Sept. 2, 1862.

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' N ITE STATES ALEXANDER IRWVIN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA. I

iMPROVEMENT iN ENGINES FOR CITY RAILROADS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,352, dated September2, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER IRWIN, of Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and ImprovedSteam-Gar for Street or City Railroads; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure I is a side sectional View of myinvention, taken in the line :0 00, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a sectional plan ortop view of the same, taken in the line 00 to, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, adetached sectional view of one of the sprinklers pertaining to the same,taken in the line y y, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a simple and compact steam-carfor street or city railroadsone in which the engines and drivingmechanism will be so arranged or disposed as to cause each wheel to besubjected to an equal weight and not at all interfere with the room orspace designed for passengers.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinventionfl will proceed'to describe it.

A represents a rectangular frame which composes the car-bed, and Brepresents the wheels on which the bed is mounted, said wheels beingplaced on axles G O, which are fitted in suitable boxes placed, asusual, in

- pedestals or pendants D, attached to the bed.

E is a frame composed of three bars, a b b, the latter two, I) I), beingat right angles to the former. The bar a is parallel with the crossbar 0at one end of the car-bed, and it has a pivot, d, attached, which isfitted loosely in a pendant, e, at the center of the bar 0. The frontbars, b b, are fitted loosely on the axle 0, above mentioned, of thecar-bed.

In the frame E there are placed two oscillating engines, F F, thepiston-rods e e of which are connected to cranks ff onthe axle 0, saidcranks being connected by rods g g-to similar cranks, h h, on the otheraxle, O, as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

G G represent two boilers of the upright form, which are fitted in theend of the carbed A opposite to that where the engines F F areconnected. The engines receive the steam from their boilers in the usualway.

H H are two water-tanks, which are placed in the car bed A, one at eachside and above the engines F F. These water-tanks are underneath theseats of the car and entirely out of the way of the passengers, notinterfering with the space designed to be occupied by them. These tanksare divided into a number of compartments by transverse partitions 2',through which a valve-rod, I, passes. The rods I I are-providedwithvalves J, so placed on them that there will be one at each side ofeach partition to admit as the rods I are operated the passage of waterfrom one compartment to the other. The water-tanks H communicate bymeans of pipes j with a heater, K, which is placed centrally between thetanks H H, and into which the cylinders k 70 of the engines F exhaust,and the boilers G G are supplied with water from the heater K throughthe tubes Z l. The tanks H H, in consequence of being divided intocompartments by the partitions i, prevent the water from running to oneend when the car is moving on a grade and insure a uniform supply ofwater to the boilers. The compartments at the inner ends of the tanks Hhave each an inclined pendent tube, L, attached, which extend down bythe treads of the wheels B and are provided at their lower ends withcrosspipes m, which are perforated and admit of a jet of water passingupon the treads of the wheels to facilitate their passage over curves.The tubes L may be provided with valves arranged in' any proper way toadmit of the escape of water through said tubes when desired.

It will be seen that all the wheels 13 of the car are drivers, and. thatthe engines, boilers, tanks, 850., are so disposed and arranged on thecar that the weight will be equally distributed thereon, the wholeforming a very compact steamcar, affording ample passengerroom.

I do not claim separately the oscillating engines nor the heater, forthey are well-known devices; but

I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Iheoscillating engines F F in a frame, E, suspended underneath the car-bedA, as

shown,'in combination with the heaterK, I of the tubes L, withperforated pipes m at their tanks H H, and boilers G G, all arranged andI lower. ends, when said tubes are connected and disposed in relationwith the car-bed A to oparranged with the tanks H and the wheels B,

erate as and for the purpose herein set forth. a for the purpose hereinset forth.

2. Constructing the tanks H with a series of compartments in connectionwith the valves J and rods I, arranged therein as shown, for \Vitnesses:the purpose specified.

3. The sprinklers or jet-dischargers formed ALEXR. IRXVIN.

D. W. MILLER, J NO. W. MILLER.

